P.O.D. Talks "Murdered Love", Movies, "ShipRocked", and More

Hatebreed Photos

P.O.D. Videos

In fact, the group's eighth album is its best and most brilliant. The quartet merges the larger-than-life melody of Satellite with a hard-hitting energy a la The Fundamental Elements of Southtown for the perfect balance between pummeling and poetic. Murdered Love remains a triumph for P.O.D. and one of the year's top hard rock releases.

In this exclusive interview with ARTISTdirect.com editor in chief Rick Florino, Sonny Sandoval of P.O.D. talks Murdered Love and so much more.

Did you approach Murdered Love with one vision?

I don't think we planned it that seriously. If you go back and listen to The Fundamental Elements of Southtown, there were so many different flavors in the songs. When we pick the order of the album, we like it to flow. By the time you're done listening to everything, you think, "This is a cool journey". We start off with a couple heavy songs and then lighten it up a little bit.

What's the story behind "Eyez"?

It's a heavy track. We love having guest vocalists. We always knew that song could use somebody. We almost had Dave Mustaine from Megadeth do it. Then, we thought of Jamey Jasta. He's got a total street, hardcore vibe. He actually had just contacted us on Twitter, and we were going back and forth talking. We were like, "As a matter of fact, we were thinking of you, dude. Do you want to do a track?" He said, "Let's do it." We sent it to him one day. Two days later, he had it done. It was as easy as that.

What's the song about lyrically?

Over the past few years, I've been on this Revelation and Armageddon kick. There's an apocalyptic, end-of-the-world vibe to the song.

What's the story behind "Panic & Run"?

Lyrically, it's a funny thing. It nods that old story of Chicken Little, where he's like, "The sky is falling". It's that whole question of, "What if the world is coming to an end?" We're not living in the days of relaxing. We should be conscious of what's going on in the world we live in. It's one of last songs we did. The vocals reminded me of old school Clash. It has that reggae, ska to it. Then, it goes into that punk chorus. It's been going over really well live.

Did you always know "I Am" would end the album?

Pretty much, it's got that heavy groove, and it takes the album out on a serious note. We start heavy, and we end heavy.

Is storytelling an important part of writing lyrics for you?

I think so. That's something I love to do. Even when I listen to music, I like seeing it. Sometimes, it can be left up to the imagination. Other times, it can be direct so you know exactly what we're talking about. I love hip hop, rhyming, and painting those pictures.

What inspires you outside of music?

I'm a dad. I love being a dad. If I could get paid for being a dad, that's what I would do [Laughs]. My girl is into fast-pitch softball, and my son's skating and wants to learn how to surf. All of that takes priority.

How did you first discover heavy music?

I come from a young family so they were all into AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath. I grew up with that rock element. My dad was into more reggae music and The Police. Once I started listening to The Police, it opened me up to reggae music and I was hooked. Back in the day, Run D.M.C. and hip hop became my music. In late middle school, one of my boys turned me on to Bad Brains. I was like, "Brothers can do white music!" [Laughs] That's how I felt. To me, punk rock was like The Sex Pistols—a white type of music. When I saw these four dreaded-up cats from D.C. doing punk rock, I was blown away. Then I saw Suicidal Tendencies, and I realized it was neighborhood music. I was never a metal cat. I thought metal was like Poison and the glam rock. I knew of Metallica and Slayer, but I couldn't associate with the whole glam thing. The hardcore stuff appealed to me because it was real dudes. I saw a Nirvana video and a guy in the audience had a Bad Brains shirt, I was said, "I've got to check this out!"

If you were to compare Murdered Love to a movie or a combination of movies what would you compare it to?

[Laughs] That's a tough one! It could be a mix of Apocalypse Now, Apocalypto, and The Passion of the Christ. It'd be all mixed-up. Throw Platoon and Independence Day in. It's all in there!

Are you looking forward to ShipRocked? Have you ever played on a boat?

I don't think we've played on one that was moving! We're excited. It's a free vacation for us [Laughs].